I just heard from his girl-friend that Gerry Smith, a long-standing member of the group has just died suddenly aged only 55. We only ever met once at Buxton but became friends immediately and have kept in contact ever since. We planned to meet up but every time some disaster or other intervened. Last time was a few weeks ago when I was in GB but he called to say he had back trouble and had to put it off. In fact, it was more than just the usual back trouble. A really nice bloke, staunch transposer of Pete's music and I'm going to miss our chats immensely. Going to listen to Faded Mansion now...

Shocking news, Ian. We met Gerry on three occasions - Buxton, Canterbury and most recently when he drove up to Sheffield from Kent. He came to collect the Clavinova (which Pete had played at both Monyash events) as we needed to give it a new home before moving to Canada. It was always a pleasure to meet him. We all send sincere condolences to his family and friends, including you, Ian. x

While the death of friends has become a commonplace at my time of life I'm particularly saddened by the news about Gerry Smith. I wouldn't claim we were friends, just colleagues in the joyful task of decoding Pete's obtuse chord progressions for the more musical Midnight Voices "back in the day". He was a brilliant analyst of even the most difficult songs. We bounced emails back an forth on many tunes and he was always the one who got it right (even when Pete himself corrected him, I think Gerry was right!)

Gerry was a delight to talk to, when we finally met, and by far the most accomplished musician of the lot of us. (The late Paul Gunningham ran him a close second.) And as you can see from the photo, he could really rock a green corduroy jacket. When I hear Sessionman's Blues, I always picture Gerry as the eponymous sax player, doubling on baritone.

My condolences to his girlfriend, family and the rest of the MVs who knew him.